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by Readerpersona
Summary: It's bedtime for all good Guardians of the Galaxy, but Rocket Raccoon finds himself entertaining the newest member who refuses to sleep. [A short one shot based on a roleplay set in the MCU after GotG vol 2, with my oc Bright Hope, a unicorn that accidentally ended up in the MCU in a humanoid form and joined up with the Guardians. Posted for fun, but please enjoy and review.]


The Eclector wasn't as big as she use to be, but the Quadrant that remained was still definitely bigger than the Milano. Big enough that everyone got their own room, but Bright Hope had elected to room with Mantis. The young women had a lot in a common; their cheerful and helpful nature's, innocence, and the fact that they were the only people on the ship that weren't hardened criminals.

But at this late hour-technically considering there's no time in space-, Bright wasn't in her room. Kraglin had given her a small tour of the ship upon first arriving, but now the humanoid unicorn was exploring in depth. Quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone, she crept through the ship wearing a nightgown Mantis had loaned her. Bright would give this to her new form; her feet were a lot quieter than hooves.

Thinking everyone was asleep, Bright Hope was surprised when she heard music coming from the armory. She peeked in to see Rocket working on a weird metal vest and humming along softly with a music box. "Rocket?"

The raccoon and his ears perked up as he turned. "What? Having trouble sleeping? Mantis can help wit' dat."

Bright Hope shook her head then stepped in, sitting across from Rocket, trying to figure out what he was working on. "Not really. I mean kinda, but I don't want to bother her."

Rocket shrugged then when back to his tinkering.  
"What about you?" the unicorn asked the raccoon. "I don't sleep much when it's dark." And it was always dark in space. "Oh right, raccoons are nocturnal. That makes sense."

The look Rocket gave Bright made her flinch. "Don't call me that. You can call yourself a unicorn, but I ain't a raccoon." Whatever the flark they were. No way was he asking Quill. He wasn't sure what a unicorn was for that matter either, just that they apparently didn't look like Bright Hope.

Rocket looked back at the gizmo he was working on but Bright Hope kept her gaze on him, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense," she said earnestly, feeling awful. She'd obviously hit a sore spot. It seemed that her and Rockets situations weren't as similar as she thought.

"...'s fine," Rocket finally relented with a huff. It wasn't her fault, she didn't know.

The song changed on the music box, something soft and slow. The singer was singing about love. They both listened in silence as Rocket tinkered. It was soothing, enough that Bright's head began to droop.

This didn't escape Rocket's notice despite his focus.

"You're falling asleep. Go ta bed," Rocket told her firmly, the same tone he had to use with Groot sometimes.

"I'm fine," Bright Hope said quickly, sitting up. "I'm not," she yawned, "sleepy."

Rocket rolled his eyes. "Right...Ya know, if you're avoiding sleep there's more interesting things to do then ta stare at me. Groot likes looking outside from the bridge. I could probably download some books or something for you on my datapad."

Bright Hope was almost startled when Rocket spoke, near in a trance as she watched his little paws work. She wasn't sure what half the things he said were, but it was nice he was trying. "I like watching you work. If that's ok!" she added quickly.

Rocket eyed the half-asleep girl. "You're gonna be cranky tomorrow." Words of experience from taking care of Groot.

The song ended. Another started. A faster song this time, still about love.

"...I'm having nightmares."

Rocket glanced up for a second but swiftly returned to his work without a word.

"Or worse, dreams about home," Bright added with a mirthless smile. "...Where's your home, Rocket?"

Home...that was a word not said on the ship very often. None of the Guardians had homes any more, at least none they wanted to return to. Bright Hope had no idea where Equestreia was, how she ended up in the Collector's vault, or how to get home. It was especially weird that Bright Hope had transformed when she left her world. But her home was still out there, somewhere.

Bright Hope started to think that Rocket hadn't heard her, too absorbed in his task.

"Here," he finally answered after a minute. _It could be yours too, if you want._

The pony didn't say anything; she understood.

Bright Hope gasped when with a touch from Rocket the metal vest he'd been tinkering on turned into a thick disk. Rocket couldn't suppress a chuckle; not even Mantis or Groot were this easy to impress. "Here, turn around," Rocket instructed, standing and holding the disk up. Bright Hope was confused but did as she was told, scooting around till Rocket was facing her back.

"Ok, but wh-eep!" The unicorn yelped, suddenly feeling a pressure on her back. "What's that?"

"You'll see," Rocket enticed with grin. "Tap it twice."

Though still confused Bright Hope reached back and once more did as she was instructed. Another gasp from Bright Hope and a smirk from Rocket as the vest reformed from the disk, this time around her. It was form fitting like the armor Tivan had given her. "Portable armor!"

Rocket shrugged. "Sorta. You remember in that fight with the great Whatever and we were all flying around?" Except Drax, of course. "The aero-rigs I designed makes that possible. I'm working on a version that acts as a space suit. Can't really test that function in here but..." Rocket reached out and touched Bright Hope's arm, satisfied when a blue shimmer appeared over her skin, indicating the presence of a forcefield. He grinned, proud of his work. "That's a good start."

"Amazing!" Bright Hope stood up and waved her arms, watching the air shimmer around her. "How does it work? Do I-WHOA!" The unicorn jumped and went flying up, right into the ceiling. There was a loud 'bang' that made Rocket wince. "Owww, that was a mistake..." Bright Hope groaned and rubbed her head, which would have been in a lot worse shape if she hadn't cushioned herself with her magic.

Rocket quickly put on his own aero-rig; Bright probably wasn't going to be any good at landings. "Stay still!" He flew up and grabbed Bright Hope's flailing leg before gently lowering them both back down. Once on the floor Rocket quickly removed Bright's aero-rig. "What were you thinking!?" Rocket chided. This was definitely her fault, not his for giving her tech she didn't understand. "You coulda broke your skull!"

Bright Hope sulked. "I wanted to fly like a pegasus..."

Rocket had no idea what that was, but he assumed they were more graceful than Bright Hope had just been.

"You'll have plenty of time to practice with it later," Rocket said, Bright Hope responding with an excited look, "but for now, go to bed before you hurt yourself. Again."

The unicorn frowned, not eager to get back to the land of dreams. She'd heard that Princess Luna helped those suffering from nightmares, but there was no Princess Luna here.

Rocket sighed, seeing the newest crew-member wasn't going to retire. "Fine. Whatever." He planned on heading out himself once he was finished, but that clearly wasn't going to happen. Bright Hope watched Rocket put both aero-rigs away then retrieve what looked like a weapon. "If you're gonna stay up you may as well learn. You make weapons, tha's what that thing on your face means I figure." Bright Hope nodded-quickly regretting it for the pain it caused her head-confirming what the sword in a cog cutie mark indicated. "Right. So dat your constructs don't fall apart and actually function, you're gonna wanna know how they work. Now this baby right here is a laser cannon, one of the juiciest pieces of killware in the galaxy. I got it...doesn't matter how I got it. It's mine now. So the way laser cannons work..."

They worked long into the 'night'. Rocket did his best to explain and Bright Hope did her best to understand. Her 'special talent' as she called it seemed to give Bright Hope a knack for weaponry but there was a lot she had to learn. As excited as Rocket was to share his love of the deadlier things in life and Bright Hope's eagerness to learn, it wasn't enough to keep Bright Hope awake indefinitely. Eventually the unicorn was out, laying on her stomach on the armory floor, screwdriver in hand. It wasn't exactly what Rocket had in mind, but at least she was finally asleep.

Rocket began to clean up, storing the tools and extra parts. He could hear Bright Hope wincing in her sleep; seemed exhaustion was no cure for nightmares, but he already knew that. The raccoon considered waking her up but thought against it. It wasn't comfy, but better to leave her. He approached the shifting unicorn and tried to take the screwdriver from her. She had a pretty good grip on it. "Come on..." Finally Rocket managed to pry it out of her hands, only for her to grab his. On reflex Rocket nearly pulled back, barely stopping himself from yanking Bright Hope's arms. She seemed to have settled down a bit.

For a few minutes Rocket tried to gently free himself to no avail. "You gotta be krutacking me..." Finally he sat down beside the curled up woman. He had the screwdriver, one free hand, a gun within reach he knew didn't need any more tuning, and a few hours before everyone else woke up.

At least the Zune was still playing.


End file.
